Top tranny bolts?!?!?!?!

[3B99SVT]

OK, I tried from the top w/a 13mm box and put my 1/2" drive 18" BABB on the open end -- nothing. I tried from the bottom using about 2.5' of extension w/a u-joint on the 13mm socket and my BABB. Nothing! Aren't these things supposed to be torqued to 55 ft*lb? I'm guessing either this tranny has never been removed (~95K miles) or someone put lock tight on the bolts. I understand that if a bolt is torqued to 55 ft*lb that it's going to take a lot more to crack the thing loose, but these are ridiculous!
I bought some longer bolts for the crossmember so I can remove my jack and still keep the tranny lowered a little. Maybe that'll give me some more movement room to crack these babies tomorrow. Does anyone have any pointers from your experience?

 

[Quadcammer]

yeah, forget having the crossmember bolted in at all.

Let the rear of that sucker hang.

Jack up the front of the motor (using a block of wood on the crank pulley works).

You should easily be able to get to the tranny bolts on a fairly straight shot.

That should do it.

 

[triplethreat]

when I did my swap I removed the upper and lower intake manifold to get better access to the to top bolts. I made 2 guide pins for the side trans bolts which kept the trans level, but since the heads were ground down I was able to clear the bolt holes when i removed the trans. its alot more work but I struggled for awhile going from underneath (had longtubes installed)

 

[mustangman36578]

+1. let it hang. what i did was loosen the motor mounts a little bit and let it hang a little more and was able to get a straight shot at it with no swivel and used a breaker bar.

 

[Orange Stang 04]

What I did was take off the crossmember, and then had my buddy pull down on the trans, that really opened up a lot of space. We took the top two bolts out first, you wouldn't want to do this if all the other bolts are already out. :uh oh:

 

[MrBrain]

What I did was take off the crossmember, and then had my buddy pull down on the trans, that really opened up a lot of space. We took the top two bolts out first, you wouldn't want to do this if all the other bolts are already out. :uh oh:

+1

You should always start with the hardest bolts.

 

[99riocobra]

^ exactly!

also, yea let the trans hang. you NEED all the room you can get! i usually jack the front of the motor up too to tilt it all back. that usually does the trick...

 

[olgreydog7]

Like others said, let it hang. I even had to jack up the front of teh motor. Then run to Sears and get the 20" long extension. Makes it WAY easier. Put the two bottom bolts back in before you do this though.

 

[gmsux]

Jack up the front of the motor (using a block of wood on the crank pulley works).

Don't jack a motor up by the Damper, A friend did this with a brand new motor and bent the snout and damper a few thou. Swung like a jumprope. Motor had to come back out and get a new crank and Damper, Never got it on the ground and spent another couple grand. :dw:

 

[Quadcammer]

If the trans has been in for 95k miles, it will be so stuck to the dowels it most likely wouldn't come out easily even if all the bolts were out.

That said, safety first, so put a few others back in.

 

[Quadcammer]

Don't jack a motor up by the Damper, A friend did this with a brand new motor and bent the snout and damper a few thou. Swung like a jumprope. Motor had to come back out and get a new crank and Damper, Never got it on the ground and spent another couple grand. :dw:

You are not really putting any pressure on the crank snout.

Since the rear of the tranny is hanging, all you are doing is tilting the motor.

If you are actually trying to lift a motor, then of course you wouldn't use the crank pulley.

different situation.

 

[olgreydog7]

Yea, but just put it on the oil pan edge to be safe, that is what I did.

 

[Quadcammer]

Yea, but just put it on the oil pan edge to be safe, that is what I did.

either way works just fine.

 

[birdman941]

Lowering (and supporting) the trans crossmember should give you enough room.

 

[3B99SVT]

Well, thanks to your input the tranny is out. That stupid front O2 sensor bracket was a pain though. After the tranny slid back about a 1/4" it trapped the bracket between the bellhousing and the tunnel. I think I need to do some touch-up paint now. It would have helped if my hands were smaller (which reminds me -- time to replace my fuel filter too).

I tried one of those pilot bearing pullers and it didn't even budge it. Just over two pieces of bread did the trick.

So now all the old pieces are out. I had to run to Ford to get a new pivot bolt & clutch fork since there was significant wear on them + one of the spring holders on the clutch fork was busted off. All the new stuff: Fidenza Al flywheel (finally got here!), 03/04 clutch & PP, Ford throw-out bearing, pilot bearing, clutch fork & pivot ball. I've got a little grease thrown on the tunnel right where the front u-joint is so I'll probably change that too.

Car's been down over a month. While I was waiting for the flywheel to arrive I put my 03/04 front diff brace w/MM poly mounts. I have the rear MM mount too, but I think I'll wait until I get more $ to get some of Bruce's stuff for the IRS and do it all at the same time. I'll be rolling soon!!! Thanks guys!!!! I would have been banging my head against the wall and probably broke something if I didn't get your help.

 

[99BlackSVTvenom]

One more thing you might want to try is to put a bare extension on the bolt and hit that extension with a hammer a few times to loosen the threads up. Not exremely hard but hard enogh to jar it some. Those bolts can get stuck in the aluminum pretty tightly.

Edit: Nevermind you got it.